MAG58

So how long does this go until your Youtube Success can partially supplement your beer fund?

We don't fool around out here. It's serious business beard growin' in the rust belt.

You'll be pleased to know that I'm quite positive there is no drive train part that is equally or more complicated than the STi.

How did you get them in? When I put mine in, I implemented the standard: Be gentle as possible until it gets indignant, and then persuade with the trusty BFH.

As I kind of expected, I can pretty much get any grind I want to on the cams, there's plenty of meat as long as I can make up for the valvetrain geometry at some point (shouldn't be an issue with direct acting cams, relative to the more complex rocker type). That said, I want to get the car running, and see what it's capable of in completely stock configuration. I figure if my car is gonna be the performance mule, might as well see what she'll do as she left the factory at Mercedes. After we get the thing sorted, I'll probably send my spare head to BRAAP as money and time allows and allow the good folks at Colt Cams to go nuts. Then we'll see what I can get my 0-Mother of God time down to.

People that do this to cars should have their driver's License revoked.

Are you a masochist? Heh, You'll probably be just fine. You're in Dallas, it doesn't snow much there or pour rain 8-10 months out of the year. You should be better of than me with my DD.

Apparently Mongo has a fledgling business amongst the mods...

In the standard AR frame (not the AR10 .308 variants) they make conversions for 9mm 40S&W 10mm 45ACP 22LR, 7.62x39, 5.45x39 and a barrage of random specialized non mil-spec and/or LEO used rounds. The different conversions for the pistol rounds can be misleading however as some are designed to fire in blowback mode similar to a standard pistol, while some are converted to maintain Gas-op. The former requires a different bolt and carrier, the latter usually just requires the change in bolt, the carrier can be maintained (same applies for NFA or Class III weapons, though I don't know of any CIII conversions that fire pistol rounds in open bolt like most blow back autos)

Rough. AR's used to be my thing, then I sold them for FAL's. Power is addictive and I've never have had a gun run as reliably as I have my FrankenFAL.

Year and chassis number? The OM606 was a beast of a motor, fantastic DOHC head and would really move for a Diesel. The OM603 (replaced by the OM606 in 98) was also a fantastic motor, but a few things. Check, check, check for service records on these cars. The 350SDL was a torque monster and will happily tow you around every day, but the early cars had a mfg falt. If they have the factory replacement motor, expect to see Semi-truck like service and rebuild intervals, if not check elsewhere. The 3.0L OM603 was around for a long time. The lastest issues of them had all the problems sorted out but the early motors had head cracking problems in the back pair of cylinders. Again, proper service records and a factory replacement head means you're good to go for MANY miles to come. And in the event you would want a performance diesel....

Vote. Also a great Idea and the new VK's are amazing. Benz's are fun and what not but the post 98 to the 07 models were from the chrysler years and WILL have reliability issues, just give them time. The market crash made all the yuppies sell off their Mercedes and the 97 W210 e-series with the M104 (not because I like the motor, but because the V6 replacement was crap, thanks Chrysler) can be had for substantially less right now, same goes for the W202 C class and to an extent the W124 E class. The fuel injected 6 cylinder cars can see a solid 25mpg in DD service, more if you're gentle with it and the 722.6 trans if you can get a car with it, will last you as an auto. If you're looking for a Chrysler era car I do suggest you stick with the Japanese staples but am all for the origional Benz's of 97 earlier, as even if you've got 120k on the clock, 200+ doesn't seem to phase them as much. What about a CTS or similar GM product?

To be honest, I'm not going to even say the M is in the same league as the RB or JZ yet because nobody has really pushed it, as far as I know. The majority of technical information I've amassed has come from digging for hours to find old FSM's, translating German technical papers, or me sitting down with some micrometers and figuring out what's what. I do know that they're lighter (from all the measuring I've done with different parts, it should ring in within 20lbs of the L series) than both the Japanese offerings that have become popular and in the states finding one is a far cheaper project than going the JZ/RB route thus far from all my pricing. The only problem I've found is that these motors weren't exactly known for dying easily so actually finding one that I can grab may be more difficult since most are still towing around fat yuppies in giant boat sedans with 200k+ on the clock, still ticking like the day they left the factory. To be honest at this point, I'd almost prefer that someone not go M103/4 as the RB and JZ both have WELL developed performace backgrounds with many companies with sizable budgets producing many fantastic parts for them. For me this is more of a passion and a curiosity as all of the turbo mercedes I've seen in the twin cam flavors have been more torque than horsepower (not that that's a bad thing, with 500hp and still more torque on an unopened motor damper to flywheel) and given the undersquare nature of the things, there's far more potential to be had. I doubt it'll ever, ever have the following or aftermarket support of the Japanese giants, but for me it's fun, and that's what it's all about, right?

YES. That just made my day. The old MB's when AMG was a race team and not part of the company were way better. They definitely lost some of their balls when they became part of benz and had to make 'sedate' performance cars.

Clean AR, do you shoot highpower?

Neither of those are exactly a comfortable ride. That said, the IS 300 is a good car, but a little older. The new non oil eating G's have a buttery smooth powerband and you can get them in AWD for those exciting MN winters.

This tends to be the issue with nabbing the RB25 5 speed for RB's as well. Getting them over here could be a pricey issue depending...

I'm not sure why you'd want to, but to each their own. A few of my silly friends from high school have them on their diesels and it basically consists of putting a bung for propane in the back and another following bung for a sparkplug between the propane nozzle and the outside world. Plumb/wire and you've got yourself a candidate for the Fast and the Furious 22, or whatever iteration they're on.

The technique I've seen in a pinch... Get the standard single entry/twin exit muffler, rotate vertically, add two pieces of crome tip to the end, cut to desired shape.

Did that this weekend. Good form I see.

Really? See last time I checked (mind you it was last year) they said they were coming out with one soon. "Soon" isn't exactly defined. How much does one run if you don't mind me asking and is it the 10mm or 12 mm ring gear bolts?

I'll agree though even though it's got stock crank/rods/pistons, there's been quite a bit of work done to that motor. If you're in the US, and you want a japanese I6, 'yota is the way to go. Perhaps though he's not looking for astronomical horsepower, just a decent bit of scoot. I know that if I just went straight from the hundred and a bit hp of my L28 to 800+ in a fire breathing RB/JZ I'd end up dead. Let's stay realistic.

My Current Money Pit... It doesn't even need a garage and is sure to take more of your money in the event it feels that you have yet to contribute your yearly 6.5million dollars.

More rear drive engines for us after the standard rich high school doctor's daughter pretends she's in a demo derby with fast moving, hard to dodge objects like Poles Trees Buildings Fido My Car... I'm cool with it.

I'm lazy don't judge me. And not to kill the topic at hand, the point of using an M104 is that I'm slightly tired of people throwing dyno graphs out of RB's and JZ's and telling me that anyone who uses something else in a Z is and idiot (not saying you are at all). No I don't expect to make astronomical numbers. No I don't think they're bad engines, or that Mercedes or BMW builds a better or worse engine (TVR Does ). I do think they're overrated and people get the impression that you can just take parts out of a box throw them on a motor with a snail the size of the late Pluto (moment of silence little buddy...) and have some kind of reliable ballistic missile that puts down numbers that can enlarge the size of any pair of internet man-bits and don't really believe they (or any motor) should be called the "god" of engines (once again, not stated in this thread, yet)... As a college student, I have the opportunity to be broke as hell and get inventive. The goal of my choice? Get 400+whp Have a 2500-7 or 8k power band, not ____/ Do it on 93 octane. Do it for less than the cost of putting a bare-bones stock RB or JZ (gte) in. To the topic at hand... I like both motors. The JZ can make tons of power that can make me just as dead as any other motor making the same amount of power but I do have the ability to say I have a JZ in my car. The RB I like. A bunch. Unfortunately no exciting flavors of RB made their way into the states or I'd be all over an RB26/30 hybrid in a heartbeat. The problem I have is that everyone wants one and RB30 bottom ends aren't plentiful here in the colonies which means that both are out of my petite little budget. I'm quite a fan of all I6's. Do I think there is a best? Nope (it's even in the HBZ rules, what a fantastic site). Do I think there's more than two equally capable motors in the world? Yep. Will the OP be happy with ANY DOHC I6 he chooses? Pretty sure. /rant.